Campus Life: Dayton; Art Students Meet, and Draw, Homeless People

Published: March 17, 1991

DAYTON, Ohio—
Three University of Dayton art students timidly approached a man in a shelter for the homeless in downtown Dayton last week, introduced themselves and chatted for a bit. Then conversation ended and illustration began, as the students pulled out sketchbooks and charcoal pencils and began drawing the likeness of the man, Joe McNeal, who comes to the shelter every morning.

"All that scratching noise is making me itch," Mr. McNeal said with a laugh, eyeing the artists as he struck a stiff pose.

About half an hour later, Mr. McNeal, who said he had been down on his luck for at least a few months, had three portraits of himself and the students had a new friend.

That interaction between student artists and a homeless person is part of the weekly lesson plan in Assistant Professor Terry Hitt's advanced drawing class, which is intended to promote observational and expressive drawing.

This semester the students have been working at the Other Place, one of only a few day shelters in the United States, to get to know and draw the homeless people who spend their waking hours there.

Both students and models benefit from the experience, said Julie Mielke, the shelter's director. "Artists learn from their drawings, and the person gets someone to talk to," she said.

"You're more aware of who the people really are, so it makes your characters better," said Caroline Walsh, from Syracuse. "I find that when I don't talk to the person, the picture doesn't come out right. I don't get the character."

Amy Wheeler of Rochester said she saw an entirely different quality of work in the portraits she created at the shelter because there is more expression and personality in the faces of the homeless people.

"There's a lot more character in the drawings of faces I do down there," Ms. Wheeler said. "There's such a variety of people, a variety of faces."

To prepare students for their trips to the shelter, Professor Hitt has them take turns leading each classroom session with readings from American Indian folklore, mythology or poetry. Then they share personal experiences that relate to the readings. Professor Hitt said this encouraged self-expression and self-awareness.

"Each of us has a story, and that's how we teach each other -- by sharing our stories," he said. "And that's what art does. It awakens the story in each of us. 'Develop a Relationship'

He added: "Working in shelters is related because everyone in the shelters has a story just like us. We can see we're interlocked; we're connected to one another."

Before the students begin drawing they introduce themselves and chat for a while with the homeless people, trying to develop a relationship, however fleeting, with one of the men or women.

"We sort of infiltrate and get comfortable with the situation at first," Professor Hitt said.

Apparently Andrew Kosits of Allendale, N.J., was so comfortable that on his most recent trip to the shelter, 4-year-old Walter Powell and his brother Damien, age 3, began drawing Bart Simpson on his sketch pad and playing with his hair and supplies. Mr. Kosits never did get a chance to draw them.

Ms. Mielke said more than 125 homeless people come to the Other Place every day to socialize, get information about jobs and housing, or take cover from bad weather. The center, which opened in the spring of 1988 and is privately financed, operates seven days a week.

Jennifer Brosnahan of Kansas City, Mo., admits she was apprehensive about going to the shelter but said, "I soon found out they were just normal people who have had bad luck."

Photo: Patricia Minardi and Stephanie Abrusia, back to camera, students at the University of Dayton, sketching people at a homeless shelter in Ohio. "The people in the shelter are more than just models," Ms. Minardi said. (Mark Lyons for The New York Times)